Good Idea or Bad one? Truck conversion
 

I am thinking about finding a Toyota (preferred) or Isuzu Diesel truck engine and putting it into a newer Toyota or Isuzu pickup truck. For work.

I have read you can get upwards of 35MPG city/hwy combined with these engines.

I am thinking of fixing up an older truck and using it as a work truck.

I found a Toyota diesel truck that needs TLC for $3500. I also found a Toyota Turbo Diesel engine with tranny ECU for a transplant for $2800 then I would need a truck to put it into.

I could pickup an older Toyota truck for about $1200.

I get 22-25 MPG with my 2005 Tacoma 4X4 right now but I think in the long run a Diesel getting 35 MPG would be beneficial.

What do you think?

Jim, I'm a diesel fanatic but if you are already getting over 20 mpg w/ a gas truck it would be a negligible benefit to go through all that hassle. I am also skeptical about the ~35 mpg unless it was a very light truck that doesn't carry much.

Do you just carry light-weight surveying equipment? I wish that Toyota and the others would market a light-duty diesel truck here like they do in the ROW. I'm a 3/4 ton guy because with the diesel it gets better mileage than a gas F-150. Plus a lot more capacity+ towing. If it wasn't for the diesel I would not even consider driving a 3/4 truck around. If a Toyota had enough room, I'd drive the 4 cylinder 4x4. :cool:

Are you talking about doing this in an old Toyota truck that would have had the 22r or 22re motor? Those would be really light. But what does one of those get MPG wise with the 4 banger. I hear those motors can last a pretty long time if taken care of. And if you are not towing anything just using it to get around maybe haul little stuff I'd look to get an older one and rebuild the 4 banger and rock on.

But I agree 20+ with any truck is good and you might want to quit while you are ahead.

When at work I am a good driver. Its a Toyota pickup and does not need to be driven like its going to win a race.


I have givem my coworkers tons of crap over the fact that before I started driving one of the trucks in the field, the best MPG for any of them was 18 MPG. My first week in the truck I had 22 MPG and I have clocked as good as 27 and a low as 22 since. Mostly in the 24-25 range.

I would imagine in a diesel I could easily hit the 35 range.

One of the 1st things I did when I started driving the truck was clean out the back of it. There had to be over 150 lbs of BS in the back that did not need to be there. I am about to lighten it some more there is still stuff in there I never touch and do not need.

I also check my tire pressure weekly. I put about 500-750 miles a week on the truck so another 10 MPG will pay off quickly.

Plus the lower cost of diesel right now makes me think this is not a bad idea.

How many miles do you think you will drive it?

US average price for diesel is 2.80

At 35 mpg it costs you .08 per mile.

US average price for petrol (all grades) 3.25

At 25 mpg it costs you .13 per mile.

A delta of .05 per mile

If you spend $4k you need to drive 80,000 miles to break even.

2 years with what you are currently averaging.

But it would be cool...

I can sell the 2005 for a nice penny. I own it outright. After the diesel is ready for the road.

I don't know, a new truck is a good thing but these damn Toyotas just go and go.

I guess I should just leave it alone.

Jim,
My younger brother is a diesel mechanic. He also owns and loves his Isuzu Pup pickup truck. He bought it used many years ago with around 60K miles. He now has clocked well over 500K miles on this vehicle and absolutely will not part with it. The body is in deplorable condition but the engine extremely dependable and has never left him stranded. It by no means is a speed demon but he drives this regularly (while is much newer Ford sits gathering dust in his driveway). I would look outright at buying an Isuzu diesel truck and not worry about any engine swapping. Good luck finding this vehicle because as I understand it, the owners are not willing to part with those trucks (apparently for a good reason).

I'd use a VW TDI engine. This engine will likely be more advanced than the Toyota diesel, meaning more power/Liter and better efficiency. However, this would involve a bit more engineering work.

Why don't you work out the bugs and give me some blueprints? ;)

There are already high quality adapters on the market to mate early AHU and 1Z (96-98) TDI engines to Toyota truck transmissions.

They were originally designed for people using toyota transmissions in offroad Suzukis, but some have used them to put the VW diesels in Toyota trucks

http://www.acmeadapters.com/store_engine.php

Wow. That's great. I know what my next project vehicle will be.

TDI Toyota truck + biodiesel = indifference about high gas prices ;)

On a related note, I had the idea this morning that a bargain way to get a big diesel PU would be to buy an older gas truck in mint condition, (even a dually 4x4), they are practically free these days. Get a Cummins engine or engine+trans, drop it in w/ adaptors and viola!, drive it forever w/o the ridiculous cost of a new or used diesel truck. You could do it in a Ford, Chevy or Dodge. :cool:

There are only kits for the early 96-98 TDIs and 78-96 IDIs, so that's a bit limiting. I heard 99-on TDI kits are in the works, I'm holding out for that.

I bought an adapter kit from them for my Samurai. Adapter plate, flywheel, engine mounts, downpipe, throttle cable... etc...
It was literally a weekend bolt-in job.

One problem that you might have to consider is meeting emissions. In the lovely state of MA, one would only be able to do a diesel conversion to a vehicle older than 83 or so.